The actual friction started between cholas and lankans when paranthaka and pandya king rajasimma fought with each other.Rajasimma lost the war and ran to lanka.He took the pandyan mudi and rathnaharam.Thus enemity started between lankans and cholas.
Paranthaka asked for pandyan mudi and rathna haram,but lankan king refused to hand it.Chola armies went to lanka,defeated lankan army but couldnt find the haram and manimudi.
Rajaraja invaded lanka in 993.Lankans lost as usual.But lankan king mahinda as usual ran away and hid in rohana forests.Chola armies captured lanka .
Contrary to what kalki said in PS ,chola armies couldnt have been beningn in lanka.When they invaded chalukyas under Rajaraja,".. they killed women,children and bhramins after looting the whole country.." reads chalukya inscriptions in huttor.(Epigraphica indica XVI quoted by george spencer)
So chola armies should have engaged in pillage and murder in lanka also.But W.M.K Wijetunga(quoted by spencer) says that cholas gave normal administration in sri lanka.
Chola armies destroyed buddha viharas in lanka.But it wasnt related to religion.They patronised buddha viharas in india.But in lanka, they wanted to stop budda monks to stop supporting lankan kings.But they destroyed priceless buddhist monuments in the process.
reference: politics of plunder:cholas in 11th century ceylon-George spencer 1976
no indian army could win total victory in lanka( even ipkf)
the two reasons were the terrain and malaria
indian soldiers fell like flies to malaria while waiting for the sinhalese to come out of the forests
only once can we call it total victory. and that too not by the sword but by cunning .
the lankan oppression did not stop after the cholas left also the pandyans who had sworn lifelong friendship with the sinhalese started it.
ariyan chakravarthi the pandyan viceroy and a pandya prince( most propably veera pandyan of the malik kafur fame ) conspired to hijack the buddha tooth ( the most sacred relic of the sinhalese)from simha giri(I think) to pandya land. only when it was accomplished did the sinhalese king parakrama bahu come out of the forests. went to madurai. was made to wait for a few days and then met the pandyan emperor.
the tooth was returned at very costly terms i presume.
that the tooth was once again hijacked by the portugese to goa in 1560 is another story
Dear Venkat i beg to differ on two counts One during the Rajendra time Eelam was completely under his control including Rohanam second dont derogorate indsian soldiers...They had surrounded Prabhakaran on numerous occasions and always Delhi advised them to let him Go because they were more interested in playing politics..This is a fact. I heard it first hand from a colonel who was part of the IPKF operations and was in GGH doing his MCh So it wassnt the soldiers fault but the administration then
> second dont derogorate indsian soldiers...They had surrounded > Prabhakaran on numerous occasions and always Delhi advised them to let
Dear Sri,
far more than my patriotism i am convinced of an historical fact that its very difficult to win a guerilla war especially if the terrain supports the rebel.( and the terrain in lanka is to be seen to be beleived)
if prabakaran had been killed there would have been another moving into his place.
it happened in vietnam, it happened in afghanistan.
but one great exception was malaya's war of the running dogs(?) where the communists were defeated in a systematic battle in the 50's.
the lankans were fighting a guerilla war way into the pandya periods ( till 1314)till all tamil kings were subdued by malik kafur.
dear all contrary to the regular tamil invasion of lanka there was a sinhalese invasion of tamilnadu by a warrior called lankapura thanthanaathan.the conquest was well executed i have read. i remember reading about him way back. does anyone have any detail on it